[JohnM]

Can anyone enlighten me on the availability of D class fares please?

I am an annual user of a DONEx so I'm familiar with the RTW versions of D class. I can never recall seeing a discounted point-to-point business class fare available on the QF online booking engine.


However, a friend has just booked, via a colleague through his travel agent, a D class fare on QF to the US at a substantial discount to a full business class fare. The story given was that the travel agent did a lot of QF business so they had some sort of inside running but I'm sceptical of that explanation.


Are they as rare as hen's teeth or is there a secret to accessing such point-to-point D class fares

[Dave Noble]

Originally Posted by JohnM

Can anyone enlighten me on the availability of D class fares please?

I am an annual user of a DONEx so I'm familiar with the RTW versions of D class. I can never recall seeing a discounted point-to-point business class fare available on the QF online booking engine.

The QF site offers D class where available. e.g. on SYD-MEL or SYD-CBR on quieter flights, you will see a cheaper business class fare which is booked in D class ( Fare Basis DOX ) .

Dave

[JohnM]

Thanks, Dave.

I guess the chance of ever seeing one from PER is remote - especially given the traffic to/from PER these days.

What about international point-to-point D class? Was my friend just lucky or was there something his travel agent could do that was more than a mere mortal operating alone on the online system could achieve? It seemed like his booking was not made a long way in advance.

[oz_mark]

Originally Posted by JohnM

I guess the chance of ever seeing one from PER is remote - especially given the traffic to/from PER these days.

As far as I am aware, D is not offered on domestic only point to point sectors from PER, so you won't see them. I believe they are only offered as part of international itineraries. So, D is there, you just won't see it on a domestic booking engine.

[NM]

The D fare to USA sounds like a consolidator fare. So the story about the TA having a special deal may in fact be correct in that they arrange consolidator fares through QF for popular routes.

[GDSman]

D class is used by QF on all sectors as suits QF's revenue management objectives:

110OCTPERSYD¤QF«
10OCT WED PER/Z‡8 SYD/‡2
QF RESPONSE ** DIRECT CONNECT PARTICIPANT **
** QANTAS AIRWAYS - AN ** 135 WE 10OCT 0000
7QF 518 J9 D9 Y9 B9 H9 W9 K9 M9 R9 L9*PERSYD 0015 0615 743
V9 S9 N9 Q9

this is a clip from a travel agent reservation system showing D class availability for a random date Perth to Sydney. THe DOX fare would apply

The fare your friend bought could be one of a couple of types:
- A Corporate Route Deal - granted to a specific corporation for their usage on certain negotiated routes, often deeply discounted based on contracted conditions
- A Generic 'Corporate Business Fare' - granted to specified travel agencies targeting corporate (pointy-end) flyers, a good discount but normally not as big as a route deal.
I would guess that they got the latter, as selling the former to someone not working for the nominated corporation would be completely against the rules of sale. The agent's claim that it had the fare due to its relationship with QF supports this as many leisure and some corporate agencies do not receive these fares - this is why it always makes sense to have a 'friendly' leisure and corporate agent.....
The QF website, which is public access, may not show these deals as they are aimed at corporate buyers. However QF may choose to release specials to agents and on their website to stimulate demand and sometimes these can be cheaper than corporate fares.......it's never completely predictable.....

[NM]

Originally Posted by GDSman

this is a clip from a travel agent reservation system showing D class availability for a random date Perth to Sydney. THe DOX fare would apply

Just because D shows as available on a route does not mean the airline is offering DOX fares on the same route. I have booked D on BNE-PER as part of a DONE4 fare, but DOX is not available on the same flights for booking as a pure domestic itinerary.

[GDSman]

Originally Posted by NM

Just because D shows as available on a route does not mean the airline is offering DOX fares on the same route. I have booked D on BNE-PER as part of a DONE4 fare, but DOX is not available on the same flights for booking as a pure domestic itinerary.

Correct - guilty of over-simplifying - the full answer is 'any D class fare meeting all applicable rules and conditions for the given itinerary will apply, which may include the DOX fare mentioned'....there is no direct correlation between inventory (availability of a specified booking class) and fare that can be easily predicted without insight into the airline's revenue management practices.

[serfty]

"Q" class on QF domestic is a similar type of fare bucket, although not as salubrious in comfort and point/SC earning ....